Case Study Interview for Corporate M&A / Software Corporate (Buy & Hold Strategy)

Question

Dear Community,

I have a take-home case interview for a Corporate M&A Associate position at a large software company. The company follows a buy-and-build strategy and is not a private equity firm, so their focus is on long-term strategic growth rather than buying, improving, and selling for high financial returns.

Most likely, I will receive the profile of a potential target company and be asked to analyze it to decide whether I would recommend the transaction or not.

-Has anyone gone through something similar?
-Could you share in detail what to expect in terms of inputs, methods, solutions, outputs, and key focus points?
-Also, are there any resources with full case studies for this type of corporate M&A scenario? I have not been able to find much so far.
-How different it is from PE Case Studies, besides the fact that PEs main focus are LBO model and financial returns.

Any input or guidance would be highly appreciated.

Thank you,
Antony

Answer 1

Hi There!

In a corporate M&A case study for a software buy-and-build strategy, the emphasis is on strategic fit and long-term value rather than leverage or short-term returns. You’ll likely be given financials, market data, and a company profile to assess revenue quality, recurring income, customer retention, scalability, and how the target aligns with the parent’s growth goals.

While simple valuation methods like multiples or a DCF may be helpful, the key is balancing financial soundness with qualitative factors such as integration risks, product overlap, and strategic synergies, ultimately showing you can think like an internal advisor focused on sustainable growth.

Answer 2

Hi Antony,

I totally agree with Nitesh’s points 👌

From my experience, corporate M&A in software leans more on strategic fit than on financial engineering. Think synergies, cross-sell potential, and long-term integration risks (culture, tech, key people).

Financials still matter, but it’s more about recurring revenues, churn, scalability and a sanity check on valuation vs peers.

The output is often a short memo or slide deck with a clear yes/no and 2–3 strong arguments.

So compared to PE: less debt focus, more strategy and execution.

Hope that helps!